Monday, February 25, 2013

In the highlands of Scotland a world of Faes, magic, dragons and heart stopping drama, Highland Dawn is pulsating with life!!

Highland Dawn is the third book in a six-part series by Donna Grant called Druids Glen.
In the nineteenth century the time arrives for a prophecy to be fulfilled. In this book, Moira(the eldest of the Sinclair Sisters) must travel with Dartayous(a druid warrior sworn to protect all druids in the glen and even moreso to Moira Sinclair), to find the doorway to the Realm of the Faes as sent by Frang the Druid high priest. Moira's younger sisters Glenna and Fiona throughout this series have found their way in life along with some pretty nice man-candy on the path. Now it is up to Moira to make a choice and seal her fate as well. In making her decision however, she will be deciding the fate of Scotland AND the Realm of Faes. Will good or evil be the one to rule?
Moira has a power that is stronger than even she knows but as with all good heroines, she possesses some pretty strong secrets that impair her judgement momentarily and threaten to vitiate her powers.
Dartayous, the immortal druid warrior has been Moira's guardian since the perilous night where her parents were murdered by MacNeil and her sister Glenna was kidnapped. He was the one that carried Moira away and to the safety of the druids glen. Dartayous loves Moira but dies not allow himself to succumb to these feelings. Instead, he has made a life of being quite distant and contentious with Moira in his efforts to keep her at arms length. It is very clear that they do not trust one another at this point. As their enchanting story plays out we get to see some very awe-striking dragons that have been fighting the black death dragons that have been set free by the King of the Fae Theron's older brother Lugus in his quest to overtake the throne that was to be rightfully his but was stripped from him when everyone accused him of killing his father and was banished to another realm (but that is a story for another time). Lugus was unaware of the amount of havoc and destruction the black death dragons would torment his beautiful realm with. With these dragons fighting amidst them, Moira and Dartayous encounter many of their own trials together including quite a few battles of their own. Lugus however proves himself to be a very powerful adversary to their efforts.
Lugus ends up being able to get inside of Moira's mind enticing her to come to be his wife and confusing her completely making the trust between her and dartayous that much further out of reach. By the time Dartayous gets to Moira and is able to save her, she had already begun to notice her own strengths and fight back against Lugus little by little.
These Terrifying and simply heart-stopping arcs and bows is what makes Highland Dawn beguiling and will keep any reader of Donna Grant's stories enraptured! Her smooth execution of characters and their feats and captivating descriptions with the subtle cliff hangers for other characters soon-to-come as her plot progresses and creates a memorable captivating story for her readers.
Moira finally finds the voice to be able to tell Dartayous of her feelings as he splays his feelings for her out for the world to see enables them to reach their happily ever after in this winding story of heroes and villains.

I give this story 5 shields!

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Highland Nights is the second book in Donna Grant's, six-part Druids Glen Series. This one is about middle sister, Fiona, and the man who is sent to bring her to Druids Glen, Gregor Maclachlan(The mercenary for hire). The story picks up Exactly where the previous one ended with a quick recap from their past(The night of the killing of the Sinclair Parents only this time from Fiona's point of view with Frang giving her to Cormag MacDougal for protection). Fiona has trained over the past 18 years in her druid ways and has become quite good at her abilities. She knows that she has a very important part in the prophecy and knows her destiny. She has no idea whether her baby sister Glenna survived the horrific event at their childhood home until Gregor MacLachlan, a stranger sent by Frang (and Moira who Fiona thought had abandoned her and held a large amount of resentment towards throughout a huge part of this book) to retrieve Fiona and safely take her back to the druids glen. There Fiona needs to carry out the prophecy with her sisters Glenna and Moira.

On a side note, I LOVED that Donna made Fiona more shapely than the frail size 2's that are in every novel in history I have laid my eyes upon. Anywho.. back to the book lol

Fiona being brought to the Druids Glen meant she had to hash out her issues she had about her feelings of Moira's thought abandonment. MacNeil (the villain) has other plans for them however. MacNeil, being the main focus on what to be waging against does not want the prophecy to be carried out and sealing his fate. MacNeil decides that to keep the prophecy from coming to be, that he must KILL one of the sisters and chooses Fiona to be that sister. Throughout this book we find that Gregor is not all he seems to be as he too has a dark past that he blames himself for. We find out that when he was but a young man he was playing at the loch with his sister and she had drowned and shouldering the blame, he was cast out of his home land by his own father and that he never returned. Fiona and Gregor end up having to venture through his home old home where he finds out that not only has his father forgiven him, but has been searching for him for some time now to find him and return him home. Fiona and Gregor set out to leave for the druids glen with a promise that Gregor would return once he completed his journey. Upon leaving however MacNeil attacks the MacLaghlin land and Gregor's father ends up dying leaving even more of a hole inside him as he ventures off to fulfill his promise to return Fiona to her sisters. Fiona and Gregor learn a great amount about each other throughout their journey as well as having some pretty intense sexual tension between them as they deny the feelings each has for the other. When they return to MacInnes land and Fiona is reunited with her thought dead sister Glenna, elation overcomes Fiona but shortlived as it is because she then realizes she still must get her skeletons with Moira out of the way as well. By the time all is said and done, (and Gregor's stubbornness subsides) Fiona and Gregor come to accept the feelings they have for one another and while the prophecy still has not been fulfilled, Fiona and Moira come to bury the hatchet as Fiona begins to understand why Moira did what she did and what happened after the MacDougals took Fiona in.
Highland nights is just one of those stories you never want to end. Getting to know each character intimately was such a great journey traveled! Donna Grant is definitely a unique writer who has that ability to pull you into a story and make you feel as if you had lived each moment right along with the characters!

I give this book 5 shields!!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

This was the first Donna Grant book I ever read. I WAS not much for novels such as this because I find usually, the story-line is either all sex, or a lack of story-line at all. So I tool a chance reading this on a request from my sister and found that putting this book down was near impossible. I would get lost in this book and lose track of time!

Highland Mist is the first book in Donna Grant's six-book series, Druid's Glen.Highland Mist, set in the 17th century Scottish highlands, centers around a prophecy, a rescue and revenge. The story opens as Glenna Sinclair, the third daughter of a spoken prophecy, narrowly escapes death as an infant at the hands of MacNeil, an evil man bent on pillage and destruction. To further his aims, MacNeil adopts Glenna as his daughter, using her fire-starting powers as a frightening weapon to cow others into submission. The rescue comes 18 years later in the form of Conall MacInnes, a Scottish laird, who rides to MacNeil castle to rescue his kidnapped sister Iona. The sister is missing, so Conall instead takes the 18-year-old Glenna as hostage. But as they return to MacInnes lands, Glenna doesn't feel shackled or kidnapped, recognizing that Conall is to become an important factor in her life. The reader recognizes this, too, as the hot attraction between these two is almost instantaneous, complete with a fiery encounter at Beltane. But Conall is a man with a few axes to grind, namely his anger at the druids for not protecting his sister or clan, not to mention resentment of his own druid blood. Then there is Conall's resentment of the druid blood flowing in Glenna, which dampens his attraction to her -- at least temporarily. Will Conall's stubbornness prevent the prophecy from coming to fruition? Or will Scotland suffer under the evil MacNeil's yoke because of Conall's refusal to face facts? On the other side, will headstrong Glenna's guilt and anger prevent her from realizing her own powers and potential? The plot here is intriguing, as are the characters. Despite Conall's heard-headedness, a reader can't help but like him for his honesty, his dedication to family and clan and sense of honor and fairness (the fact he's a good-looking hunk with dark hair and gray eyes doesn't hurt, either). Despite her rescue early in the book, Glenna isn't some helpless, dewy-eyed clingy heroine. Grant paints Glenna as a woman unafraid of making the sometimes painful decisions necessary for survival. Glenna is also a wonderful helpmeet for the stubborn Conall, working with him to solve his problems, rather than being the author of them. While Donna Grant does tie some loose ends by the end of Highland Mist, more are left hanging, to be answered in the next book and presumably, books beyond. But judging from this first book in the Druid's Glen series, I was going to be reading for a good long while...

I have given this book 5 Shields and look forward to reading the rest of the series!